The Repast Series
by Maaya
Summary: A series of ficlets about Heero's relationship with his fellow pilots and friends.
1. Dark Road

Notes: This is going to be a series of ficlets, with a lil' bit if everything in them, humor, fluff, sap, angst etc. They are all going to be in Heero's POV when he shares a meal with someone. Maybe slight mention of 1+2, 3+4, D+R or 5+S, but I'm not really sure. Anyway, enjoy ^_^  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own the character or Gundam Wing.  
  
*******  
  
The Repast Series - Dark Road by Maaya  
  
*******  
  
Have you ever thought about how different people's meal determines how the person in question is? What kind of lifestyle and personality? Have you ever thought about how many different meals you've had during your lifetime?  
  
Eating something on a romantic restaurant together with your boy/girlfriend is very different compared to eating a hamburger to lunch together with your Preventer partner isn't it?  
  
The subjects that come up during that meal are also very different depending on the person. You know what I mean, don't you?  
  
I have had reasons to share meals together with a lot of different people during the years as a Preventer and I can tell you that they have all been very interesting, in different kinds of way.  
  
*******  
  
"Lovely."  
  
Wufei's voice startled me as I had been on my way to fall asleep, comfortably leaned back in my seat with too much bags in my lap to be able to move. I blinked the last remaining shreds of sleep out of my eyes, yawned quietly and peered out of the car window. It was completely dark outside - not even a simple streetlamp was in sight to rest my eyes on. Instead I turned my head and rested my eyes on my watch; it was that kind with a luminous dial. It showed one o'clock, in the night.  
  
I felt tempted to agree with my companion's earlier, sarcastic way of putting it all.  
  
Let me explain the situation. Wufei and I had been called to a Preventer mission. It had been a smooth, but boring affair, to control the security systems of a smaller police office in another city. Since the wiring of the cameras had been unnecessarily complicated - something that could cause trouble if anyone tried to break into the building, we had both been forced to stay longer than planned and we could therefore not begin our drive home until ten o'clock.  
  
Unluckily for us, someone had forgotten to tank up and in the middle of an unusually vacant road, we ran out of gasoline. Of course, the car lights had decided to give up together with it all as well.  
  
Note to self: Go car shopping this weekend.  
  
So there we were, sitting in a completely dark car, in an empty road in the middle of the night.  
  
I tried to shift position slightly - I had lost all feeling in my legs, but I quickly realized that my former way of sitting had been the most comfortable possible, so I shifted back again.  
  
"What are taking them so long?" I asked, yawning again. Wufei had called Quatre and told him about our current situation, and our blonde friend had promised to pick us up soon.  
  
We had now waited in exactly two hours and on top of it all, I was getting hungry and cold.  
  
I could hear how Wufei tapped his fingers against the steering wheel in loss of other things to do. I waited patiently for him to answer my question - it does always take time for him to say something. Just the moment when you think that he didn't hear you and you are on your way to repeat yourself, he opens his mouth and answers.  
  
If it had been any other person, I would have been annoyed by it - but this was Wufei. He was Wufei in the same way as Duo was Duo, Trowa was Trowa and I was Heero. We all had our small habits and personalities and we knew each other well enough to not get frustrated because of that.  
  
He took longer than usual to reply this time. You'd think that when he takes such a long time to think about what he should say - he should be bound to say something very smart and logical. So is not the case.  
  
"I don't know." He tapped another tune on the steering wheel. "I don't know."  
  
I heard how my stomach grumbled about how we had missed dinner so the next words I spoke was fir its benefit.  
  
"Do we have any kind of food with us?"  
  
The pause that followed was only a few seconds long this time.  
  
"I don't know.. yes - there's a packet of crackers."  
  
"Where?"  
  
I heard and felt, more than I saw how he gestured towards me - or rather, the bags in my lap.  
  
"In the smallest one."  
  
I nodded to show him that I had understood, until I realized that he couldn't see me. Instead, I grunted a small "okay" before going through all the bags until I found a small one which I guessed was the right. It was, because I found something that felt suspiciously like a packet of crackers.  
  
It was easy to open, even in the darkness of the night and I took out a handful of crackers before laying the packet where Wufei's lap would probably be.  
  
None of us spoke for a while as we nibbled on our crackers, trying to make them last as long as possible.  
  
Then I saw something white appear in the darkness as it descended from the sky. Maybe it was the very faint light from my wrist-watch that made it visible or maybe it wasn't, but there was something with that flake that touched me deeply - probably the fact that it seemed so alone as it landed on the windscreen.  
  
"Snow." I whispered needlessly. Wufei didn't answer for a while (as usual) but then he said something that felt so un-Wufei-like that I felt surprised.  
  
"Yuy, do you like snow?"  
  
It wasn't the question in itself that surprised me, but more the calm, soft voice it was spoken in. It was a voice that he would never allow himself to use during a normal day - it was saved for moments like this, with the right atmosphere.  
  
Another snowflake fell down, placing itself only a few centimeters from the first one. I smiled - neither of us was lonely anymore.  
  
"Not necessarily." I said as I studied the flakes. "Just the first one of the year. Duo loves it, though." A smile curved my lips upwards as the thought of my lover and his obsession for snow. I wondered what he was doing now. Probably sleeping if he had any common sense at all. In my mind I pictured how he would look in his sleep - with his hair down and spread around him and with a small, unconscious smile on his lips..  
  
I realized that Wufei was saying something and I shook my head as if to clear it from all thoughts. I took another cracker and concentrated on my partners words.  
  
"..snowed when Meiran and I married each other."  
  
"It did?" I thought for a while before adding. "Is it a happy or sad memory?"  
  
As he thought for an answer another snowflake fell, and another one. Soon it was snowing a good lot and we sat there in a complete silence. Our crackers were eaten long ago when he answered.  
  
"Both."  
  
"Oh." I nodded into the darkness, not bothering to ask for an explanation. It wasn't because I wasn't interested but because I didn't want to push him to do something.  
  
When he didn't continue anyway, we sat there, quiet, and watched as the snow descended from the darkness above of us.  
  
*******  
  
This was the 'meal' I shared with Wufei that I remember the best. I've eaten a lot better things and had much more useful conversations with him, but this is a memory I remember the most anyway.  
  
You might wonder if anyone came and picked us up. Well, Quatre arrived half an hour after it had began snowing and his excuse was the he had ran out of gasoline.  
  
We went home and I could finally go to bed beside Duo, who was sleeping - lying in the same position that I had imagined in the car, smiling faintly.  
  
*******  
  
The End  
  
******* 


	2. Sociable Unsociable

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters.  
  
Genres/Warnings: Shounen ai, 1+2, Heero POV, waff, sap (I guess so at least)  
  
Beta-reader: sailor c. ryoko  
  
*******  
  
The Repast Series - Unsociable/Sociable by Maaya  
  
*******  
  
The reason I remember this special moment with Duo, is probably because it was so normal, and still I felt so unbelievably happy.  
  
Back then, I didn't think about the happiness, but now when I think about it, I feel so incredibly, wonderfully happy.  
  
Ever felt that way; so strongly that it feels like there is a balloon inside your chest - and that balloon is continuously swelling and swelling, though you have no real reason for feeling so?  
  
I hadn't - at least until I met Duo.  
  
*******  
  
"Heero?"  
  
My mind was suddenly ripped away from the earlier subject it had been focused on and I looked into a pair of bluish violet eyes. They looked back, questioning, and I guessed that I had been very far away in my thoughts, so far that I had spaced out for a while.  
  
"What?" I asked, sounding harsher than intended and it seemed to annoy Duo too. He frowned, the pair of eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he looked right back at me.  
  
"Excuse me." You didn't have to be overly smart to hear the clear sarcasm in his voice. "I wondered if you had eaten anything yet."  
  
I had to think for a while before responding. "No."  
  
"Well, do I have the honor of accompanying you for a mere lunch then?"  
  
I forced my bad mood out of my head as I answered with a very slight smile. "Sure."  
  
"Then, are you ready? Come on!" He grabbed my arm and hauled me up from my chair with a strong tug. All of his earlier irritation was blown away in a strong wind in the same instant as I forced that smile upon my lips. I couldn't help but compare him with our neighbor and her old dog.  
  
It was like a habit of Duo's and mines - to look out of the window every morning at seven o'clock and watch as the old lady with her dog walked by. It was always amusing to see what kind of mood they were in. If the lady was happy, the dog wagged its tail and skidded around whilst if she was grumpy, the dog was growling and barking at everyone who had the misfortune to pass them. It was like they were connected somehow, in kind of the same way as Duo and I are.  
  
If one of us is grumpy, the other one is too. I guess that is why they call it 'soul mates'.  
  
We walked down the road, shivering and snuggling as deep down as possible in our coats as we strolled ahead. It had certainly gotten colder the past few days. It hadn't come any snow yet, but white frost covered the thin branches of the trees that were planted along the street, making it look like it had snowed at least a little.  
  
"Where are we going?" I asked my companion, glancing at his face. His nose was growing red as a reaction of the cold.  
  
"McDonalds." Was the reply, and he shoved his hand deep down into one of my pockets. I glared at lump in my pocket as it moved - fighting my own hand for space enough to settle down.  
  
"Why did you do that?" I asked when I lost the fight and gave him as much space as he wanted.  
  
"It's warmer in your pocket."  
  
I grabbed his hand in the depths of my pocket. True, it was ice cold. I held it in a firm grip to warm it up, but when that was done I still didn't let go.  
  
We walked for a while in silence, at least until realization dawned upon me. I peered at him.  
  
"Did you say McDonalds?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"Damn."  
  
"I knew you'd say that."  
  
"Duo, it's junk food." I paused for a while to give more effect to the continuation. "Disgusting junk food."  
  
He just grinned at me. "Hey, you said yourself that their salad was eatable."  
  
"Eatable and tasty are different things."  
  
We arrived to McDonalds and I held up the door for Duo to enter first, but as I stood there, our neighbor and her dog walked past - in a seemingly good mood I might add.  
  
Duo stiffened as he saw me looking at something behind of him and he turned around to see what.  
  
From the angle I was in, I couldn't see his face, but I could hear in his voice that he was grinning when he spoke.  
  
"Good day Mrs. Peters." He reached down to pat the dog. It seemed to like it, because the tail started wagging so much that it had trouble standing properly. If I had been I young girl I'd probably squealed 'kawaii!' in a high pitched voice, but as it now was, I remained quiet, watching as my boyfriend communicated with the dog and laughed.  
  
Still, I felt mildly shocked, because I had no idea that Duo knew the old lady and her dog.  
  
I stood, feeling strangely left out as I watched them talk to each other for a while, until I managed to drag Duo inside.  
  
As the door closed behind us and we took place in the line, I looked at Duo questioning. He was still grinning, the way he used to do it as a fifteen- year-old boy during the war. The grin that used to annoy me as much as it cheered me up.  
  
Lost in old memories, I once again missed how he tried to talk to me.  
  
"..Heero? Why didn't you say anything to them?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"What's with you today, why didn't you greet them?"  
  
I looked up. "I don't know them."  
  
He watched me in disbelief as I ordered for us both. "Seriously? We've lived beside each other for over a year and it has never occurred for you that you should maybe speak to her? I mean, exchange a word or something?"  
  
I grunted and took our tray as the girl behind the counter arrived with it, before stalking away to find an empty table somewhere. It wasn't all that hard since the lunch rush was over for a long time ago.  
  
We settled down and Duo stuck a straw in his coke before looking up at me again. "What kind of social life do you actually have, Heero?"  
  
I was chewing on a lettuce leaf when he asked me that, so I continued to chew four more times before answering. Four times. No more, no less. Four times. "I don't need a social life."  
  
"Oh, how so?"  
  
"I have you."  
  
My oh-so-romantic lover swallowed a large mouthful of hamburger (loudly) before replying. "Was that supposed to be romantic, Heero Yuy?"  
  
"It's the best I can manage."  
  
"Oh." He muttered and sipped on his coke. "Guess that'll be enough for me."  
  
I grunted, only to show him that I wanted to change the subject. For once, he took the hint.  
  
"So what were you thinking about earlier?"  
  
"When?"  
  
"Guess."  
  
I was clueless, and he must have noticed it because he sighed and clarified.  
  
"Office. Me. Asking. You. Spaced."  
  
I snorted and took another lettuce with the light plastic fork I had gotten with the tray. I stared at it for a moment. "Nothing special." I took the piece into my mouth and chewed.  
  
"Everything about you is special." He retorted.  
  
I couldn't help but grin and mimic his earlier question. "Was that supposed to be romantic, Duo Maxwell?"  
  
My braided lover chewed thoughtfully on the hamburger. "No, it was the truth."  
  
I raised one of my eyebrows slowly, almost elegantly. "And the truth is not romantic?"  
  
"Not always. But in this case, maybe. It wasn't supposed to be, though."  
  
"That's what makes it romantic. When it's not supposed to be, I mean."  
  
Duo shrugged with a small smile on his face. "Guess it is. Still, you didn't answer my question."  
  
I thought we had left that subject, but unwilling as I was to cause a big argument, I gave in. "The meeting I was on last night."  
  
He choked. "The one about the Preventers' budget?"  
  
"That's the one."  
  
Duo stared at me for a long moment. "Heero, you're in serious need of a more exciting life."  
  
I shrugged and listened as he continued.  
  
"That meeting was the most boring one of the year, and you are still thinking about it? Was it really that interesting for you?"  
  
"Do you know that the last speaker is related to Lady Une?" I changed the subject.  
  
He coughed as he choked on his coke, his eyes bugging out of his head.. "Seriously?"  
  
"Yes, I asked him."  
  
"You *spoke* to him? Christ Heero, that man was crazy! His ideas were nothing short of insane!"  
  
I couldn't help it, but I snorted. "Guess it's in the family then."  
  
He laughed, until he spotted my wrist watch.  
  
"Jesus, we're late!"  
  
After a hurried scramble of trying to put our coats on at the same time as we left our tray, we were finally out on the road again, running as fast as we could towards the Preventers HQ.  
  
*******  
  
The End  
  
*******  
  
Yup, it's a PWP, but it was still fun to write! ^___^ 


	3. Rushed Tête à tête

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters.  
  
Warnings/Genres: 1+2+1, H+? ficlet, Heero-POV, slight angstiness?  
  
Beta-reader: sailor c. ryoko  
  
Notes: This is pretty much written as if Heero would re-tell everything to someone. It wasn't supposed to be like that, but I am currently reading 'Interview with the Vampire' and I guess it is passing on to me.  
  
***  
  
Rushed Tête-à-tête (Part of the Repast Series) by Maaya  
  
***  
  
I was not really sure about sharing a dinner with Hilde, and especially not in a fancy restaurant like the one we went to. She was mainly Duo's friend and not very close to any of us other pilots (or even any of the girls in the gang for that part either) and I am not one to talk to people unless I really know them well enough to have something to say.  
  
It is not as if I didn't trust the girl or anything, but I couldn't remember saying anything to her, or hearing her say anything to me in the past. So frankly, it was like going out with a stranger. She could just as well have been the cashier in the drug-store nearest to Duo's and my place, or the old almost-neighbour two houses away I meet on the way to work every day but never ever spoke to.  
  
You have to remember that this was only six months after the Mariemeia-war had ended and two months since Duo and I had gotten our relationship straightened out and decided to move in with each other. I was still pretty much quiet and a little in 'soldier mode' as everyone calls it nowadays.  
  
I had some problems with being out in large crowds again and was rather . . . twitchy about it. Duo would probably not have approved if he knew I was going out that evening to meet his friend because he worried a lot about me during that time. But he was away with some of his old sweeper friends and wouldn't come back until the next day, and would therefore not possibly ever find out about it.  
  
I admit I was surprised and not very thrilled when Hilde called and asked me to meet her at 'Rizzo's' ten o'clock, but since my conversation-skills weren't the best and Duo had recently given me a lecture on how I needed to stop being rude, I could not say no. And I had no excuse to do so either.  
  
So I could just accept and get ready to leave.  
  
Out of habit, I arrived exactly on time, only to find Hilde waiting for me at a table. She was dressed in a pair of wide, blue-violet pair of pants that looked good on her because they were wide enough to cover up the thinness of her legs, and a white blouse. She looked old enough to order a glass of wine without being forced to show an ID, but was sitting and fiddling with a glass half-full with water anyway.  
  
The restless fiddling with the glass should alone probably have told me her mood, but I didn't realize what it was until she looked up and I saw her eyes. They were . . . nervous.  
  
"Hey." She said, sitting up and smoothing out imaginary wrinkles from the front of her skirt.  
  
Not knowing what else to answer, I said the same thing back to her, sliding down in the seat in front of her as I did. "Hey."  
  
An uncomfortable pause followed as we stared at each other for a while. She opened her mouth a couple of times as if to say something, but closed it again quickly. The moment was finally broken when a waitress came up to me and asked if I wanted to order a drink. I declined and asked if I could order my meal immediately instead. Hilde did the same thing.  
  
Then we were left alone again, but Hilde seemed to have gotten a little courage out of the short conversation with the waitress. She abandoned the glass and looked me straight in my eyes.  
  
"I guess you have no idea why I asked you to come here." She said it like a statement, not a question. I shrugged to indicate for her to continue.  
  
She did, looking very old as she began. "Well, it is mostly about Duo." Slight hesitation. "Nothing is wrong or anything, it's just that I . . . I wanted to . . ." She paused again before finally blurting, ". . to make sure everything was okay!"  
  
I raised an eyebrow. There wasn't much else to do anyway.  
  
"I mean, is he happy?" Hilde wondered, then added as on an afterthought. "Are you happy together?"  
  
I took my time to answer, because I knew she wouldn't settle with a simple yes. She wanted facts and pure honesty. " . . I cannot answer for him, but I am as happy as he seems to be."  
  
Nodding carefully, she looked a little reassured, but persisted anyway. "Just don't . . . hurt him, okay?" She bit her lip. "Or let him hurt you. Or whatever." Her face reddened. She obviously didn't know very much about mine and Duo's relationship or about how far we had taken it yet.  
  
"I don't intend to." was my answer, which I hoped was calming enough. "Nothing in the world would make me want to hurt him."  
  
A couple of seconds ticked by and became past for us, until I suddenly realized what was being shown in front of my eyes. A revelation . . . or, well . . . something.  
  
"You love him." Strange emotions erupted in her face and changed it too many times to count; from sadness to shock to anger to love to jealousy to horror . . . up until it reached its final expression in form of faint defeat and a lot more. . . guilt?  
  
"I do, but there's som--" She broke off and scowled. "I mean, I would never be able to love him the way he needs and-"  
  
"There's someone else you like too, right?" This time *I* broke her off, having pretty much figured it out already. "And you want them both."  
  
"You're too smart for your own good sometimes, Heero." She frowned, looking unhappy. Her demeanor had suddenly changed from nervous to irate. "Just take care of him for me, okay?" I nodded and watched as she stood up, once again brushing away imaginary wrinkles from her clothing. "I'm sorry, but I have to go."  
  
And with that, she threw some money onto the table and disappeared out of the door. Seeing no meaning with staying and eating after that, I left too and began to walk home to wait for Duo to come back.  
  
***  
  
The End  
  
***  
  
Kind of a hasty ending, but Heero and Hilde didn't want to cooperate when I tried to make more conversation. =,= Well - mostly one-sided conversation but you know what I mean. I hope.  
  
. 


	4. A Not So Very Good Meal

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters.  
  
Warnings/Genres: 1+2+1, 5+S, fluffiness, PGness, sick-Heero-ness, OOCness, big-sister-Sally-ness, embarrassing-conversation-ness . . . =,=  
  
Beta-reader: sailor c. ryoko  
  
***  
  
A Not So Very Good Meal by Maaya (Part of the Repast Series)  
  
***  
  
Sally Po is not a good cook. She might be one of the strongest and most determined women I have ever met, and also one of the bravest and most understanding. She can fight in mobile-suits and use a gun almost as well as I. Her knowledge of battle-tactics can rival Quatre's and she is very kind.  
  
But she cannot cook a decent meal if her life depended on it.  
  
That is why I was a little . . . doubtful when she announced that she would cook when she invited herself to nurse me back to health after a rather nasty cold. Duo had a Preventer-assignment and was away with Wufei, probably on the plane to California right now.  
  
I admit being a little jealous of the two of them. At Wufei because he was with Duo, who was the one I wanted with me the most right now and at Duo because he was going to California. It was warm there right now. Warm as in . . . not cold. Not this god-awful coldness I was experiencing at home.  
  
I had, for once, managed to catch the flu and had been very sick. Duo had been looking after me, but finally couldn't get out more vacation days from Lady Une, and had to accept a mission. So he had managed to get Sally to promise to look after me and get some food into me while he was away.  
  
It was a gesture of caring and love on his part, I admit that, but he has probably never been unfortunate to eat Sally's cooking, because he would then have let me make the food myself.  
  
"Hey, Heero! Where do you store the rice?" Sally's voice reached me from the kitchen.  
  
I tried to answer, I really did, but my sore-and-phlegm-filled throat decided it didn't want to cooperate. What had been supposed to be 'check the lowest shelf behind the cereals' became a low gurgling I can't describe even if I wanted to. So I stood up from the cough with the plan of going and showing her.  
  
It turned out to not be a good idea. I had been on my back for days and had just yesterday graduated from the bed to the couch. The dizziness disappeared in time to let me see Sally poke her head out from the kitchen.  
  
"Heero! You're not supposed to be standing yet!" She snapped without anger, just concern, and walked over to help me sit down without missing the couch. "Duo will kill me if he comes back and find you worse off than when he left you." I snorted, but I think it sounded like a sniffle because she handed me the pack of paper tissues from the coffee table.  
  
"Hey, you alright?" That had to be the stupidest question I had heard in a very long time and swallowed the phlegm to say just that. But when I surprisingly succeeded and found I could actually talk without sounding like a bathtub when the water is sucked into the drain, I instead took the opportunity to tell her where the rice was. "Check the lowest shelf, behind the cereals."  
  
"Huh?" She looked at me, surprised.  
  
"What?" I tried to answer, but my throat was suddenly uncooperative again.  
  
"Whhkice?" She gave me another strange look for my trouble. "Heero, do you have any throat lozenges?" I shook my head.  
  
"I'll run down to the shop and buy you some." She finally did find the rice and made a chicken-stew that I usually like, if it hadn't been Sally to make it, will say. The fact that I couldn't feel the taste of anything actually helped this time, but it didn't do anything about the fact that she had somehow managed to make what usually had a pleasantly, creamy consistency into something more . . . watery.  
  
She settled in an armchair beside the couch and picked in her meal. "So, Heero." She said. Well, more like . . . prodded or something. I gave her a troubled look, but she ignored it, continuing. "So, tell me; how are things going with you and Duo?" I choked on the piece of chicken I had been chewing on for some time.  
  
"Wha-what?" Was what I managed through coughs and teary eyes.  
  
She looked amused.  
  
"Don't give me that look, Heero. I'm dying of curiosity here! Duo hasn't filled me in with *anything* and you are both so damned . . . secretive about your relationship. I know girls at the office are just dying to see you kiss, or even just hold hands." I opted to not comment right now, even though I *did* want to protest. It was the wrong choice though.  
  
"Have you . . . you know . . . done it yet? Had sex?" Once again, I choked; out of surprise or Sally's cooking I do not know. It was probably a little bit of both.  
  
"Why do you want to know that?"  
  
"We're running a bet at the office." She confessed, but didn't sound very remorseful. "Please Heero, if Dorothy looses she will wear a pink and baby- blue dress with rosettes to the next meeting with Une." The mental image was disturbing and strangely pleasant.  
  
"What did she bet?" Her face lit up.  
  
"We had different options; that you hadn't done it yet, that you did it the first time before Christmas this year or last year and that you did it after Christmas this year or last year." Taking up a notebook from her jacket-pocket, she flipped it open and searched until she found the right place, which she read before continuing. "Doro was the only one to believe you did it after Christmas this year."  
  
"What did you guess?"  
  
"Before Christmas, last year." She huffed. "I remember the day when both you and Duo were late and both had those huge shit-eating grins on your faces.  
  
"I don't grin."  
  
"You did!"  
  
"I don't."  
  
"You did . . . oh, forget about it! Was I right?"  
  
I hated to admit it but . . . Yes."  
  
"I'm never wrong." Smirking, she leaned back in the armchair and took her first forkful of stew. I took a perverse satisfaction in seeing her choke on the taste and took the opportunity to ask *her* some embarrassing things.  
  
"So Sally - have you done it with Wufei yet?"  
  
"What?!"  
  
***  
  
The End  
  
***  
  
Pathetically PWP-ish. But hey - I was bored! 


	5. Antithesis to Hamburgers

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters.  
  
Warnings/Genres: implied 1x2, sap-thingies, Heero POV, conversation piece, pathetically PWP-ish. (like most of the stuff I write)  
  
Summary: Heero and Relena have a conversation about apologies, lifestyles and . . . everything else. (implied 1x2)  
  
***  
  
Antithesis to Hamburgers (Part of the Repast Series) by Maaya  
  
***  
  
I really, really like Relena as the friend she is, but sometimes I can't get away from the fact that she is rather . . . fussy. Not in a really bad way, only upper class and refined, with the rich upbringing she had. Despite this, she is still one of the best friends and 'female associate' I have ever had.  
  
But honestly, I can sometimes feel a little uncomfortable in all those restaurants Relena seems to prefer when he is away for business. They are too . . . *posh* for me, as Duo would have put it. Blend in I can do without problem after having done that a million of times, but comfortable? Not really.  
  
"Heero, can't you please stop glaring at me?" That's Relena in a nutshell, always polite, even when she is practically writhing uncomfortably. I quickly averted the glare I hadn't known I had been using.  
  
"Sorry."  
  
I took another bite of lamb roast with sauce done with red wine. There was an uncomfortable silence and I felt her eyes resting on me, then heard her quiet sigh before she began to speak. "I'm sorry too. I honestly neither wanted to have a bodyguard, nor did I know Une would pick you. I know you wanted to spend some time with Duo . . ." She trailed off, unsure of what more she wanted to say.  
  
"Alone." I inserted.  
  
She sighed again. "Yes, alone. I know you haven't had time to be with him for a while because of that Preventers' thing too, and it is my entire fault you can't go home for another week but please, can't you stop sulking about it?"  
  
"I'm not sulking."  
  
"You are." She snorted that little snort that is just barely audible and perfect when discussing something at a rich gala banquet. How many times had she practiced and been forced to use it? "Honestly, Heero, I'm not blind. You have that little . . . frown between your eyes that are just about visible."  
  
"I do not . . ." I started, but broke off when I realized exactly how childish this argument was about to highlight me as.  
  
Relena used the opportunity to go on about everything she had noticed. She sat up a little straighter in her chair, took a sip of wine and looked more alive than she had this whole evening, happy about having an at least somewhat interesting discussion. "You're uncomfortable here," she accused. "You should have told me and we could have gone somewhere else."  
  
I shrugged. "I'm your bodyguard. It's your choice. I'm paid to protect you."  
  
"Oh." She looked vaguely disappointed. "Are you just protecting me for money then?"  
  
Why did all people have to mark my words all the time? I'm not great with them, but I do try to not say something to hurt someone else. It wasn't even my intention to hurt her in the first place. "No. I'm saying that it doesn't matter where we eat."  
  
Okay, so that was a slight . . . exaggeration, but she looked relieved, so I guess it was for all good.  
  
"Good." She sipped elegantly at her wine once again. "It sounds terribly spoiled when I say this, but I am used to this kind of places. Maybe it would be interesting to go to a . . . hamburger bar or something, just for the fun of it. I can't remember ever being to one, only seen them in those old American high school movies." That is another perfect example of Relena, having lived and dreamed in the fictional world as young.  
  
"Duo'd probably be glad to help you. I despise those places."  
  
"I figured you would."  
  
"Why?"  
  
She shrugged, apologetic, as if she had just insulted me. "Never thought you'd be one to like 'junk food'."  
  
I hated to admit it but . . . ."You're right."  
  
Another silence. Then, "So Duo likes it then? Hamburger bars, I mean." She looked positively curious, something that surprised me, as I don't think she ever really liked Duo much. His sarcastic, flirty way of being confuses her, especially since she grew up in high society, where most guys seem to flirt by upholding honour and being gentleman-ish. But I only have that blonde guy I fenced with as example, so maybe I shouldn't judge them all. Duo, however, flirts mischievously.  
  
"Duo loves them. But then, he's American. He *should* like them."  
  
"Going for stereotypes much?" she wondered, a little amused. "All Americans can't worship hamburgers, you know."  
  
I shrugged. "The ones I know do."  
  
"But you only know Duo, right?" She pointed out, now outright smiling.  
  
I digressed by taking another bite of lamb and making a show of chewing it carefully. When I was done, Relena seemed to have gotten tired of the subject, and moved on to something else.  
  
"Sometimes, I wish I could have been adopted by less . . . well-known people, because that would have meant I wouldn't have been forced to see my 'father' being killed in front of my eyes." She admitted out of the blue. "But I feel ashamed because of that, because I honestly loved him." She stared down in her navy-skirt-covered lap, cheeks red-tinted with embarrassment.  
  
Okay, so I would have preferred the earlier subject. I'm no good at cheering people up, woman least of all. I don't believe in changing my manners because of the sex of the one I am talking to. It's just that I am more used to speaking to males and my manners tend to be more . . . guy- like, as Duo says. Some females appreciate this, some do not. I'm not sure which category Relena falls under.  
  
"What brought this up?"  
  
She waved her left hand uncertainly. "I don't know. Life-styles. Hamburger bars. Lack of thereof. If I had been adopted into a poorer, unimportant family, I would maybe be a frequent visitor to McDonalds."  
  
I smiled briefly at the imaginary. "But then maybe you wouldn't have had a purpose for doing what you did in Sanq."  
  
"Maybe, maybe not."  
  
"What about Ms. Darlian-" I hesitated, unsure if it was callous to call the woman 'miss', but decided it was the truth and continued. "Where is she today?"  
  
Relena looked a little surprised at my question. "She's doing fine. I mean, I still keep in contact with her and she is my mother but. . ."  
  
"You feel uncertain around her." I finished for her as her own voice faltered.  
  
"Yes. I know it's stupid - she *is* my mom, but I can't help but feeling . . . awkward around her now after the war. She was always there, supporting me, but it feels like she's become something of a stranger. I have my own life now, my own business to take care of. I take care of the business her *husband* took care of."  
  
"Maybe that's what it means to grown up," I suggested, not really sure. I never had a mother to outgrow, after all. Can one really outgrow one's own mother? I didn't think so, but maybe Relena was a special case.  
  
Another awkward silence followed, and I returned to my food for a while.  
  
"So . . ." Relena's voice came hesitatingly, after a couple of minutes. "So how are you and Duo doing?"  
  
I flushed. I wanted to blame it on the wine, but as a body-guard, I'm not allowed to drink the stuff, and I assumed the wine the sauce was done of wasn't enough to be blameworthy. Damn it. Let's say I'm just not used to speak about my romantic relationship with another man, especially not with the woman who was obviously smitten with me as younger.  
  
And why are all women I know so interested in what I and Duo are doing? [1]  
  
"It's . . . okay." I ventured at last.  
  
"Good. I was always a little-" She searched for the right words. "- doubtful to why you and he got 'together'. You are rather different."  
  
"Different is good." I muttered and hoped she would leave it like that. And surprise, surprise, she did. Maybe she realized how uncomfortable the subject made me, or maybe it was just the blush betrayed me.  
  
She was a little flushed too, and was looking down in her lap again, subdued. A quiet moment passed, until . . .  
  
I stood up.  
  
Relena looked up, surprised. "What are you doing?"  
  
"Taking you to a hamburger bar." I said.  
  
***  
  
The End  
  
***  
  
[1] I cannot speak for the women in the series, but I do know why *I* am smitten with them. ^_^ Also, this is a reference to Repast Series 3 and 4 when Heero shared a meal with Sally and Hilde. 


End file.
